Axle and bearings
- Thread starter jstarwal
- Start date
lynndiwagoner
Well-known member
You might check out the HOM link (Heartland Owners Manuals) at the top of the page. Go to "Exterior" then "Axles and brakes." Also, etrailer.com carries all of the bearings and seals you might need for your axle. Look under the rig and there should be a tag on the axles denoting the model, manuf., and size. Use this info on the etrailer.com website to find your components.
Jim.Allison
Well-known member
If you have dexter axles, you most certainly can buy them locally. I bet you have an industrial wheel and axle company nearby......Here in San Antonio we have one that has BASKETS full of the bearings and seals you need, just show them to the parts clerk and he will pull out a set for you. You can also look up your axle at Dexters parts PDF, identify your axle and buy the parts ahead of time. There are just a few axles designs out there and they are all based on standard spindle numbers. If you want a specific brand of bearing then go to an industrial bearing house and buy whatever you want, Timken, Koyo, SKF and on and on. For seals you can go CR. depends on the dependability that you want to pay for. At minimum there is a NAPA close to you that will most definitely have them, if not, they can get them by noon if you get their early enough.
Jim.Allison
Well-known member
Using a pneumatic grease gun is what blows the seals on trailer hubs. This happens when unscrupulous maintenance departments take money for a hand pack, but instead use a pneumatic grease gun.
The design of the Dexter EZ lube is such that you can lube your bearings with a quality grease gun. I know that there are people that claim that they lost a seal because of using the EZ Lube zerk, but that has not been my experience. My practice is to lube the hub with a grease gun until the grease flows out of the hub as indicated in the user's guide, The first time you perform this, it make take quite a bit of grease because you may be filling a void in the hub, but once the hub is full, it only takes about strokes with my pistol grip 5000 psi grease gun to get fresh grease to show. Each 2000 to 3000 miles or so I give another 2 strokes. Every Once in awhile you have to clean out your hubcap/cover, but it's really no big deal and can be accomplished with a paper towel. IMHO I don't trust anyone to hand pack my bearings. It's just too easy for them to lube them with a pneumatic lube machine, or lube them the same way I can do, or not at all and still charge me for a hand pack job. If I'm had packing, I'm doing it myself. But so far I see no purpose in hand packing. I promise that 2 to 6 strokes of grease is not going to blow your seal. And bearing buddies are not even remotely similar in design to EZ lube. Bearing buddies can blow your seals when over filled, blown seals are a characteristic of "bearing buddies."
I bought my elkridge as a left over, new several years ago. First time I had an RV in many years. After a year or so, I decided to adjust the manual brake adjuster, and re-pack the bearings. I found that the dealer had shot grease into the zerk on the axle and it had blown past the rear inner seal and my brakes were completely covered with grease. So the shoes had to be replaced.
On my most recent coach, I dont trust that that inner seal will be able to stop grease from squirting onto the brakes. The only way to verify that it didnt, is to tear the brake drum off, so at that point why not just inspect repack the bearings manually. Its not a job I particularity find fun, but having a bearing fail on the road would be even worse.
On my most recent coach, I dont trust that that inner seal will be able to stop grease from squirting onto the brakes. The only way to verify that it didnt, is to tear the brake drum off, so at that point why not just inspect repack the bearings manually. Its not a job I particularity find fun, but having a bearing fail on the road would be even worse.
